Tissues are well known in the art. Tissues, such as facial tissues, are commonly used for blowing one's nose, cleaning tasks, etc. Tissues can also be used as paper towels for wiping, cleanup tasks, etc. Tissues, and their packaging, must be inexpensive and disposable, to be widely consumer accepted. Tissues may be supplied dry, with lotion, or moistened. Such tissues are typically generally rectangular in shape and supplied in discrete sheets. Tissues are typically supplied in and/or dispensed from a generally parallelepipedly shaped dispensing package. The dispensing package has an opening, typically at the top or a side, through which the tissues are removed by the user.
Early dispensing packages were of the "reach-in" type. Using a reach-in dispensing package, the user had to insert his or her fingers through the dispensing opening, grasp a tissue, and pull it out through the dispensing opening. Examples of reach-in dispensing packages, and improvements thereto, can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,021,002 issued Feb. 13, 1962 to Guyer; commonly assigned U.S. Pat,. No. 3,576,243 issued Apr. 27, 1971 to Trunick; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,458,810 issued Jul. 10, 1984 to Mahoney. Over time, the desire for increased convenience led to sequential or pop-up dispensing packages. In a "pop-up" dispensing package, a tissue usually extends through the dispensing opening to an elevation above that of the dispensing package. The user simply grasps the exposed portion of the tissue, without the necessity of inserting fingers through the dispensing opening. In pop-up dispensing, each tissue has a leading portion which is first to pass through the dispensing opening, and a trailing portion which later passes through the dispensing opening. Typically the trailing portion of a first tissue to be dispensed overlaps the leading portion of the next tissue to be dispensed. The overlap is measured generally parallel to the direction of withdrawal of the tissues through the dispensing opening. The overlap is usually, but not necessarily, the same for each tissue and constant throughout the width of each tissue. As the first tissue is withdrawn by the user, the leading portion of the next tissue is pulled through the opening, for later dispensing.
Typically the sequential withdrawal of the succeeding tissue through the dispensing opening occurs due to interfolding of adjacent tissues. The tissues are folded against one another in a variety of configurations, so that the friction of the trailing portion of the withdrawn sheet against the succeeding sheet pulls the leading portion of the succeeding sheet through the dispensing opening. Examples of various interfolding arrangements are found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,007,605 issued Nov. 7, 1961 to Donovan; U.S. Pat. No. 3,172,563 issued Mar. 9, 1965 to Harwood; U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,679,094 and 3,679,095 both issued Jul. 25, 1972 to Nissen et al.; commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,632 issued May 6, 1975 to Early et al; U.S. Pat. No. 4,859,518 issued Aug. 22, 1989 to Schutz; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,554 issued Jun. 2, 1992 to Chan et al. A commercially successful improvement is the dual mode dispensing package which allows for either pop-up or reach-in dispensing. An example is found in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. 4,623,074 issued Nov. 18, 1986 to Dearwester.
The tissues are generally light weight and low density. Transportation and shipping of such tissues is relatively expensive. Savings, which can be passed on to the consumer can be realized by compressing such tissues. However, there has been little success in the art, to date, in compressing facial tissues or other tissues supplied in discrete sheets. In contrast, the toilet tissue art has recognized at least some success in compressing toilet tissue. This success is primarily due to the deformable hollow core about which the toilet tissue is wound. The hollow core is compressed until the opposite sides touch and creases appear in the core at diametrically opposed vertices. The tissue is then shipped to the consumer in this fashion, who later rerounds the core as needed to be inserted upon a common spindle in the bathroom. An example of such an attempt is illustrated by commonly assigned U.S. Pat. 5,027,582 issued Jul. 2, 1991 to Dearwester, which patent is incorporated herein by reference for the purpose of showing a suitable dispensing package for the present invention.
However, facial tissues not having the deformable hollow core are not susceptible to this means of compressive packaging. Furthermore, facial tissues are commonly contained and shipped within the package from which they are later dispensed, rather than inserted around a dispensing apparatus, such as a spindle.
Complicating the situation is the fragile nature of facial tissues. Facial tissues generally have a relatively low tensile strength, and cannot be dispensed from a package containing more facial tissues than the package was intended to hold. Indeed, tearing of the first few sheets of tissue is a common consumer complaint, even in packages which do not contain compressively packaged tissues.
Attempts have been made in the art to compress facial tissues or to supply facial tissues in multiple dispensing packages. For example, one attempt in the art illustrated by U.S. Pat. 3,197,062 issued Jul. 27, 1965 to Day et al. discloses an expandable tissue dispensing package which can house tissues maintained therein under compression prior to use. The problem with this arrangement is that the dispensing package is usually an expensive component for which the consumer must pay with each purchase. Greater economies are recognizable if the consumer reuses the dispensing package and merely inserts a new magazine of tissues to be dispensed into the reusable package. Furthermore, not reshipping the dispensing package furthers the overall goal of saving on transportation and warehousing costs. For aesthetic reasons, many consumers use a permanent package, comprising a shell or facade made of wood, decorative plastic, etc., which they place over the package in which the tissues were purchased.
One attempt in the art to provide a refillable dispensing package is illustrated in U.S. Pat. 5,076,466 issued December 31, 1991 to Petterson et al. This attempt discloses a dispenser for sheet products and having a complex apparatus to prevent overfilling of the dispenser. However, the consumer must again pay for the anti-overfill mechanism. Another attempt in the art provided the consumer with two clips of tissues split into two halves is illustrated by U.S. Pat. 4,778,057 issued Oct. 18, 1988 to Allen et al. However, this attempt does little more than to provide two packages joined together. There is no attempt to provide any savings to the consumer by compressing the tissues.
As can be seen from the foregoing attempts in the art, what is needed is a method of providing consumers compressed facial tissues. What is further needed is a way to reuse inexpensive packages for dispensing compressed facial tissues. Finally, what is needed is a way to achieve economies of transportation with compressed tissues and still load the tissues into a dispensing package without entailing undue complexity, or tearing of the tissues upon dispensing.